RELIGION
Lai attends annual prayer
President William Lai (賴清德) prayed for wisdom, courage and the ability to lead Taiwan and its citizens during this year’s National Prayer Breakfast yesterday. In his address at the event held in Taipei, Lai said that one of the three main duties he has prioritized as Taiwan’s leader is ensuring the nation’s survival and development in the face of threats from external totalitarian powers. The second is to protect the lives and property of Taiwanese as well as maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region as a contribution to the world, he added. The third is to take care of the lives of Taiwan’s 23 million citizens by developing not only the high-tech sector, but also small and medium-sized enterprises, and sharing the fruits of economic growth with the public, with special care for the vulnerable. Lai thanked the nation’s churches for the role that they have played in Taiwan’s transition and growth, adding that whether it be charity, education, medicine or spiritual growth, churches have been a spiritual backbone and provided stability for society. The government would keep working closely with churches to provide better care and opportunities for the public, he said. The National Prayer Breakfast in Taiwan, held annually since 2001, is jointly organized by various Christian church denominations and organizations.
Photo: CNA
TRAVEL
Passport rank down slightly
Taiwan’s passport is ranked 34th in the world, with access to 141 visa-free destinations, the latest update to the Henley Passport Index released yesterday showed. The index put together by Henley & Partners ranks 199 passports out of 227 globally based on the number of destinations holders can access without a visa, and is updated monthly. The 141 visa-free destinations for Taiwanese passport holders are a slight decrease from last year, when holders had access to 145 destinations. Botswana and Colombia are among the countries that have recently ended visa-free status for Taiwanese after “bowing to pressure from the Chinese government,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in August. Singapore has the top-ranked passport, with 195 visa-free destinations available to holders, followed by Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and South Korea, all tied at 192 destinations. Taiwan’s passport is tied with Peru at 34th. In the list’s first edition in 2006, Taiwan ranked 55th. It dropped to 69th in 2010, but has remained ranked in the 30s since 2015.
EARTHQUAKES
Series of earthquakes jolt Tainan
A series of earthquakes struck the southern Taiwan city of Tainan yesterday evening, including a magnitude 5.4 temblor, the strongest of the quakes, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA).The epicenter of the magnitude 5.4 earthquake, which occurred at 8:40 pm, was located in Jiali District, 23.2 kilometers north of Tainan City Hall, at a depth of 7.7 kilometers, CWA data indicated.The quake’s intensity, which measures the actual effects of a seismic event, was highest in Tainan’s Jiali District (佳里), where it registered 5- on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale.The earthquake also registered a 4 in Chiayi and Yunlin counties, the CWA said.The magnitude 5.4 quake was preceded by two smaller earthquakes of magnitudes 4.0 and 3.0 at 6:45 pm and 8:22 pm, respectively, according to the CWA.Three more earthquakes followed later in the evening: a magnitude 3.5 temblor at 8:43 pm, a magnitude 4.3 earthquake at 8:43 pm and another magnitude 3.5 temblor at 9:19 pm. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries resulting from the quakes.
CRIME
Murderer to pay damages
A court in a civil proceeding on Thursday ruled that a Taiwanese man sentenced to life in prison in January for murdering a Malaysian student must pay more than NT$6 million (US$184,088) in compensation to the victim’s family. The Shilin District Court said that Chen Po-yen (陳柏諺) must pay NT$3,010,355 and NT$3,369,999 to the mother and father of the female university student he strangled to death, with interest to be calculated annually at 5 percent from August last year. The court’s ruling can be appealed. Chen, who was 30 at the time of the murder, is serving a life sentence for killing the female university student, identified by her surname, Chai (蔡), in Oct. 2022. The court found Chen guilty of murder in January, a verdict that was upheld by the High Court in June. Chen confessed to strangling Chai to death in her rented residence after she refused to return money he had given to her, the court said in January. Chai, who was aged 24 at the time of her death, was studying at a Taipei university and working as a part-time model and live streamer on social media, police said.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
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